JAKARTA - Iran has rejected new peace talks with the United States, Iran's state news agency reported on Sunday, hours after President Donald Trump said he would send envoys to Pakistan to resume talks, threatening to strike unless Iran accepted his terms.
In his post on Truth Social, President Trump wrote that his envoy would arrive Monday evening local time, a schedule that leaves only one day for negotiations to make progress before the two-week ceasefire ends.
"We are offering a very fair and reasonable DEAL, and I hope they accept it because, if not, the United States will destroy every Power Plant, and every Bridge, in Iran," he wrote, launching Al Arabiya and Reuters (20/4).
"NO MORE GOOD GUYS!" he continued.
Separately, Iran's official news agency, IRNA, did not mention a specific source in its report that Iran had rejected the talks.
"Iran stated that its absence in the second round of talks was due to what it called Washington's excessive demands, unrealistic expectations, constant changes in attitude, repeated contradictions, and ongoing naval blockade, which it considered a violation of the ceasefire," IRNA wrote.
The apparent diplomatic setback comes as shipments are still blocked in the Strait of Hormuz, and could pave the way for a fresh oil price spike when markets reopen after the weekend in the next few hours.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Iran's rejection of the talks.
A White House official said the US delegation will be led by Vice President JD Vance, who led the first peace talks of the war a week ago, also including Trump's envoy, Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner.
President Trump initially told ABC News and MS Now that Vice President Vance would not go.
Meanwhile, Iran's chief negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, earlier said the two sides had made progress but still differed on nuclear and strait issues.
Iran has blocked the strait to ships other than its own since the United States and Israel attacked on February 28.
On Friday, Iran announced it would reopen the waterway. However, the decision was reversed on Saturday after Trump refused to lift the US blockade on Iranian ports.
"Iran decided to fire a bullet yesterday in the Strait of Hormuz - A Total Violation of our Armistice Agreement!" Trump wrote in a Sunday morning post.
"That's not good, is it?" he continued.
In another Truth Social post on Sunday, the Republican politician said a US destroyer fired shots and then took control of an Iranian-flagged cargo ship in the Gulf of Oman that was trying to evade a US naval blockade.
President Trump said that after the Iranian ship ignored the warning to stop, the US guided missile destroyer "stopped them right in their tracks by making a hole in the engine room."
"Right now, the US Marines have secured the ship," the US president added.
Pakistan has been the main mediator in efforts to reach an agreement that would end the war.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif spoke by telephone with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Sunday.
Sharif's office said President Pezeshkian had thanked Pakistan for its mediation efforts, in a statement that did not mention Iran's rejection of the next round of talks.
Now in its eighth week, the war that broke out on February 28 has created the most severe shock to global energy supplies in history, causing oil prices to soar due to the de facto closure of the strait, which before the war transported a fifth of the world's oil shipments.
Thousands of people were killed as a result of the US-Israeli attack on Iran and the parallel Israeli invasion of Lebanon. Iran responded to the attacks with missiles and drones against its Arab neighbors.
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